D&D 5E Spicing up duergar in my 5e milieu.....

[Casimir Liber]

So in my world, the duergar are less inherently evil but fell for machinations of devil archdukes hook line and sinker. Mammon, Baalzebul and Fierna/Belial have established wide followings within the duergar. Am basically spitballing interesting/creative ideas - hence....followers of Baalzebul cutivating invertebrates, maybe riding giant horseflies into battle. Fierna/Belial gelling well with duergar deception and trickery, and Mammon promising to satiate dwarvish greed. Any other monsters people feel would work well I'm keen to hear.

Also, some duergar have sought favours from Olhydra and Shadowfell beings - to sue water or desiccation to facilitate tunnelling.

Anyway....spitballing ideas here....

 

[Bitbrain]

Zariel-influenced — bloodthirsty. Favor battleaxes and longswords, use clockwork dragons as flamethrower artillery and bulettes as shock troops.

Dispater-influenced — paranoid. Favor morning stars and flails, use shield guardians as bodyguards and basilisks as watchdogs.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

A couple of things I liked from a 3E splatbook I read called The Slayer's Guide to Duergar:

• At the age of thirty a duergar embarks on a lone pilgrimage called the Lonely Year. They must journey to a shrine and receive some kind of token to take back home, but they still can't return until a year has elapsed and cannot receive aid from other duergar.
• Upon death a duergar is presented to priests with an offering set aside from their personal wealth. If the offering is considered sufficient the corpse is interred, and if not it is dishonorably disposed of.

A later online supplement on duergar during 4E introduced the idea of "firebonded citadels", which are fortresses in the lower reaches of the Underdark protected by unending flames that cling to the exterior of the building. Critical Role did something a bit similar with a duergar fortress called Emberhold that had magma pouring onto and around channels in the structure's surface.

I second the idea of duergar using trained basilisks. A creature that can turn people into stone is convenient for slavers, who just have to pick up and carefully transport the petrified victims to cure and put to work later.

 

[Krachek]

You can look for the Mid-nor dwarves from confrontation.
Body modification, deformities, curse of madness, cult to old forgotten gods.

 

[Voadam]

Belial and Fierna traditionally have both lies and fire so smithing and forging seems a way to go with them for some fire related thematics. Also agreements/deals with not all relevant terms or information (wait, why is the sword I bought from those duergar flaking? It is only adamantine plated?) Car salesmen duergar.

 

[iserith]

I run duergar (and other Underdark races) as having significant Vitamin D deficiency which makes them moody and depressed with muscle and bone pain. This is also why they want to eat the PCs livers, a rich source of Vitamin D.

Whenever they encounter the PCs, they rush into battle shouting "Give us the D!"

Which now that I've written that out sounds weird.